After the Reynolds Pamphlet
by CompleteNerd14
Summary: What happened after the Reynolds Pamphlet? We know Eliza burned the letters, but what else? We see Eliza's reaction, and Angelica's, but what about Peggy? This story is what happens after Burn, Peggy and Angelica come to help Eliza. Shouldn't be more than three or four chapters long, it's about all the Schuyler Sisters reactions. Not really T, but just to be safe.
1. Peggy

Peggy was furious. Alexander had cheated on her sister, and then published a self-written pamphlet about it. But the fury was tempered by sadness, Alexander had been her friend too. And he had betrayed them.

He had betrayed Eliza, he had betrayed Angelica, and Peggy too. The three sisters had trusted him, thought he was above what he had just done. Peggy walked to the fireplace and tossed in the thick pamphlet. The fire leapt up to meet it, flickering tongues of flame licking at the white pages. Slowly, the flames ate away the now blackened pages, crumbling them into ash.

Softly, the door opened; a servant approached and held out a small envelope. Peggy took the proffered note and the woman left. She gave a sigh of relief as she read the address. It was from Angelica. Peggy tore open the letter and began to read, eyes scanning the few lines with frenzied speed.

 _Dear Peggy,_

 _I read the Reynolds Pamphlet. I have a passage booked on a ship heading for New York in three weeks, it was the soonest I could get. Peggy, you have to go visit Eliza. All she has right now is her children, and they need help too. Go to them, I will be there as soon as I can. Hurry._

 _-Angelica_

Nodding decisively, Peggy strode to her room and began packing her things. An hour later she was in a carriage heading to the Hamilton's house. It was Angelica who answered, face pale, and tears brimming in her eyes. As soon as she saw Peggy she threw her arms around her aunt and hugged her tightly. Peggy's visits had always been loved by the children, they loved their aunt.

Peggy hugged the girl back and then gently pushed her back, holding her shoulders. The young girl gave a faint smile and wiped the tears from her eyes. Peggy smiled down at her.

"Angie, where is your mother?"

"She locked herself in her room! Father's trying to get her to come out!"

"Is he now? Angie, I need you to take this up to the spare room, get some of your brothers to help. I am going to go talk to your mother."

She handed the suitcase to Angie, and the girl nodded, happy to have something to do. She ran off, calling for her brothers and Peggy closed the door behind them. She knew the way to Eliza's room, and ran there as fast as she could in her dress. She found Alexander standing outside the door, trying to coax Eliza out. Peggy stormed up to him and he turned towards her.

"Peggy, thank God, she locked herself in and I can't get her to come out!"

"Not surprised."

"You're mad at me too? It was an act of political sacrifice!"

"Sacrifice? Damn right it was a sacrifice! You sacrificed your wife, me and Angelica, and you sacrificed your _children_! They will _never_ look at you the same way. Now get out and go to work, or get out and kill yourself so you can go to hell, I don't really care right now, just go!"

Alexander stepped back, mind frozen in shock. Peggy had always been a sweet, but background character to him, nothing like the sweet and gentle Eliza, or the dazzling wit and intelligence of Angelica. Now though, he barely recognized her, eyes ablaze with fury, face filled hate and disgust for the man in front of her.

He backed away out of the hallway, stumbling over his own feet in his haste to escape the venomous glare of the woman before him. As soon as he was around the corner, Peggy turned back to the door and knocked three time in rapid succession, then a pause and three more, slowe knocks. It was Peggy's knock, each sister had one from when they were children. Slowly, the door opened.

"Is Alexander still here?"

"No, I think I scared him off."

"Thanks."

Eliza's face was streaked with tears, eyes red and puffy, but her smile was as beautiful as a rainbow breaking through storm clouds. She leaned forward and pulled her little sister into a tight embrace. They stayed there like that for a while, just holding each other. Then the sisters stepped back into Eliza's room and sat together on the large bed, after locking the door.

Peggy wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders and Eliza leaned into her. Peggy knew how she felt: Helpless. It was how Peggy had felt when she heard that John was dead.

 _Don't think about that now Peggy. Don't cry, Eliza needs you right now, she needs you to be strong. Don't remember, just think about Eliza and the children, they need you right now._

It wasn't the helpless that Eliza had felt when she met Alexander- or how Peggy had felt when she met John. This was a different kind of helpless. The kind that felt like life had just punched you in the stomach and knocked all the breath from your lungs, the kind that made you feel like you just couldn't go on.

Peggy had lived with that helplessness for years, but after a while the waves of grief grew farther apart, dwindling in size and number. It wasn't easy, but it was something that Peggy had learned to live with, and maybe, just maybe, move on.


	2. Angelica

**Long chapter, yay! Here is your Angelica moment, I used a lot of lyrics from the cut song _Congratulations,_ if you haven't heard it go on YouTube and look up  Congratulations Hamilton such an awesome song... anyway, enjoy! **

* * *

Peggy had been at the Hamilton's house for three weeks and was waiting for Angelica's arrival. For three weeks she had comforted her sister, and taken care of the children. In that time she had barely seen Alexander, he had locked himself in his study and hardly emerged.

When they did see him he was distant, not exactly cold, but barely speaking. He wandered, wraithlike, and aimless through the house. He seemed in a trance, seeing them, and yet not realizing that they were there, as if they were only objects to navigate around. It was like he was searching for something that he had lost, but he didn't know what it was.

Peggy had been standing by the door thinking for a full ten minutes before there was a knock. Peggy threw open the door a smothered her older sister in a tight embrace.

"Thank God, I need help! How does Eliza handle being a mother of eight?"

"Hi Peggy."

"Sorry, hi Angie."

"So how is everyone?"

"Eliza is in the parlor sewing, it took me a week, but I finally got her out of her room. The children are everywhere it seems, and Alexander is in his study."

"Okay, let's get the boys to take my bags up to my room and we'll go see Eliza."

Peggy nodded and a minute later the children were carrying the heavy bags upstairs, jostling to be the ones to carry the heaviest ones. The two women were soon right outside the parlor door. As soon as she was inside the room Angelica rushed towards her younger sister and pulled her into a hug.

"Eliza!"

"Angelica!"

"and Peggy!"

The three sisters grinned, it was Eliza who said it. She smiled, voice still slightly muffled by Angelica's hug.

"The Schuyler Sisters!"

All three sisters laughed, and the three women sat down to talk. Eliza, while still heartbroken by her husbands betrayal, was quiet and collected, unlike her sisters. Angelica was a blazing inferno with a heart of pure rage, and Peggy... well Peggy as different. While she had not forgiven him, (and doubted she ever would) she had come to pity him in a way.

Peggy had been right, that day when she first confronted Alexander, his children would never look at him the same way again. All seven avoided him, when they were in the same room they wouldn't make eye contact, hurrying out as quickly as possible. Even Phillip had come home briefly to confront his father.

Perhaps that had been what crushed Alexander. His whole life Phillip had looked up to his father, striving to be like him in every way, but no longer. She remembered that day. She had seen him storm upstairs, kept the children away, and eventually waited outside for him to come out. She had stood outside the study door and heard yelling, muffled to incoherence by the thick, oaken door.

When the young man had finally emerged he was red faced, and tears brimmed in his eyes. He had come up to her and she had hugged him, drawing him away from the door, and into his room, he had sobbed quietly,and she had let him cry. When he finally looked up and spoke, his eyes were wet, and his voice was choked.

"Aunt Peggy, I don't know what to do. How could he do this to us! To Mom, to me, to my siblings? I looked up to him! I _worshiped_ him!"

"I know Phillip, I know."

The memory was painful, even for her. So she blocked it from her thoughts, trying not to cry. She watched as Angelica raged, a barely controlled wildfire, ready blaze as soon as it touched something it wanted to burn. She watched as Angelica stormed out of the room toward Alexanders study.

Sighing, she followed her sister. Eliza stayed behind, and waited patiently for them to return. Angelica threw open the door and stormed in; Peggy hung back, catching the door before it hit the wall, but refusing to go further. Alexander whirled around, eyes widening in surprise, then heaving a sigh of relief.

"Angelica, thank God, someone who understands what I'm struggling here to do."

She looked disgusted, "I'm not here for you!"

"Angelica!"

"Alexander."

"But-"

"You have invented a new kind of stupid, a damage you can never undo kind of stupid, an open all the cages in the zoo kind of stupid!"

"Ange-"

"Clearly you didn't think this one through, kind of stupid! Congratulations!"

Alexander seemed to shrink back from the glare of the woman in front of him. Angelica had always been tall, but now she seemed to tower over the shorter man. If he was a mouse, cowering in her shadow, then she was serpent. If she was a serpent then she was a poisonous one, venom dripping from long fangs, head twisting to and fro to hypnotize her prey.

"You've redefined your legacy, congratulations!"

At this he rose to the challenge. His legacy was his whole life, _no one_ would mess with his legacy. So he faced her, flames of defiance roaring up to greet her rage.

"It was an act of political sacrifice!"

All three people in the room froze. He had crossed a line, and they all knew it. _Wow... that was not the right thing to say!_ He shrank back as she replied. Her voice, Peggy noticed, was choked with grief.

"Sacrifice? I languished in a loveless marriage in London; I lived only to read your letters. I look at you and think, God what have we done with our lives, and what did it get us? That doesn't wipe the tears of the years away, I'm back in the city and I'm here to stay, and we both know what I'm here to do."

"Angelica-"

"I'm not here for you."

This was an old habit, sometimes when the three sisters would speak in verse when they were trying to control themselves as children. The tactic had fallen out of style as they got older, but sometimes the sisters would lapse back into it when they were trying to process strong emotions.

Eliza, she knew, had done this when she read the pamphlet. Peggy herself had done it, when she heard that John was dead, she still had to keep herself from doing it when he was spoken of in her presence. Now, as tears ran down her sister's face she stepped forward. Gently, she took Angelica's arm and tried to pull her away, but Angelica had one last thing to say.

"I know Eliza like I know my own mind, you will never find, anyone as trusting or as kind! Put what we had aside; I'm standing at her side! Why could you never be satisfied, God I hope you're satisfied?! For the rest of your life, every sacrifice you make is for my sister, give her the best life! Congratulations!"

With that she turned and stormed out. Peggy saw that Alexander was shaking, eyes glazed and staring straight ahead, but Angelica was her sister. Angelica and Eliza: they came first. So she shook her head at the broken shell of a man that had once been her friend that stood as still as a if he was made of stone. Ducking her head to hide her own distress, Peggy followed her sister out the door.


	3. Eliza

**Last Chapter, sorry this was so short. I did write an extra long story though since I am sick and don't have anything better to do! I will work on my other stories now, bye, enjoy!**

* * *

It had been almost two months. Two months since her world turned upside down. Two months since Alexander had betrayed her. Two months since... well, everything that had happened. Well, not everything; Peggy had arrived two weeks after it had happened, Angelica three weeks after her. Both of Eliza's sisters had brutally attacked Alexander.

Then again, she hadn't been much better. She sighed, she was in one of the rare moments when she was alone. For the better part of four weeks Eliza had hardly been without one or both of her sisters at her side. She remembered the night she had found out, it was imbedded forever in her memory. She wished it weren't, the image was crystal clear and laced with pain and grief.

* * *

 _It was a clear night, air just the perfect temperature, caught between the warmth of a day at the end of August, and the cool of a New York night. Eliza was alone in the parlor, embroidering flowers on a blanket for Angelica's soon to be born child. Alexander was at work, as he so often was._

 _Eliza enjoyed the quiet of the empty room- silence and time alone were hard to come by when you had eight children. She loved her children though, all eight frustrating, annoying, wonderful, perfect children. So she only smiled indulgently and laid aside her sewing when she heard the light knock on the door._

 _It was her second oldest, Angie, who brought it to her. The girl, eyes wide, handed her mother a thick packet of papers and scampered swiftly back into the shadows of the hallway. Eliza frowned in confusion, but shut the door and sat on the couch anyway. She smiled as she looked down at Alexander's name on the cover, **The Reynolds Pamphlet**. Reynolds... she had never heard that name. _

_By the second page there were tears in her eyes. She had heard the rumors of course, about Alexander's aledged affair, but had never really believed them. She forced herself to read more, the pages crumpling under her fingers as she gripped it tighter the more she read._

 _When she at last finished the pamphlet she let out a choking cry and flung it across the room. She hugged her arms closer to herself, how could he do this? To her? To their children? She half ran across the room, scooping up the pamphlet, and in only a few strides she was in front of the fire. _

_With a long, shuddering breath she tossed it into the flames. The pages were damp with her tears, but when it finally turned to ash she found that it actually made her feel better. She paused for a moment, then rose and began gathering objects, souvenirs of her married life, things that Alexander had given her._

 _One by one, she threw each item into the fire. Eliza stumbled down the hall to her room; snatching the box of letters from its shelf, she returned to the parlor and sat down beside the fire. She opened the lid and began sifting through the pages._

 _There was a soft click, and a creak of hinges as the door was pushed slowly inwards. Quietly, Alexander stepped into the room, closing the door behind him._

 _"Eliza?"_

 _She pulled a letter from the box at random and examined it before throwing it to the side and picking up another. She didn't turn as she spoke, not even glancing at the man behind her._

 _"I saved every letter you wrote me. From the moment I read them I knew you were mine, you said you were mine... I thought you were mine."_

 _He stepped forward reaching toward him. She stood, turning to face him, but refusing to look in his eyes. She held out her hand in a stop gesture; he did._

 _"Do you know what Angelica said, when we saw your first letter arrive? She said: 'Be careful with that one love, he will do what it takes to survive'._

 _She looked down at the letter in her hand, "You and your words flooded my senses. Your sentences left me defenseless, you build me palaces out of paragraphs- you build cathedrals."_

 _"Eliza-"_

 _She ripped open an envelope and began reading with fevered intensity, her fingers crumpling the pages._

 _"I'm re-reading the letters you wrote me. I'm searching and scanning for answers, in every line, for some kind of sign, from when you where mine. The world seemed to... burn..."_

 _With a small cry Alexander leapt forward, trying to intercept her. But Eliza had already thrown the letter into the flames. He froze as he watched the page darken, the words of loving adoration crumbling before his eyes._

 _"You published the letters she wrote you. You told the whole world how you brought this girl into our bed. In clearing your name, you have ruined our lives."_

 _She dropped the box to the floor, pages scattering across the tile like fallen leaves._

 _"You and your words, obsessed with your legacy! Your sentences border on senseless, and you are paranoid in every paragraph! How they perceive you... you, you, you."_

 _In a daze, she gathered up a handful of letters and threw them into the fire. Alexander stepped forward, eyes wide with shock. Page by page, she threw each letter into the flames, watching as it caught fire and slowly blackened and crumbled to ash. She turned towards her wayward husband._

 _"I'm erasing myself from the narrative. Let future historians wonder how Eliza reacted when you broke her heart... you have torn it all apart. I'm watching it burn!"_

 _She stepped forward and ripped a packet of papers from her husband's hand- another copy of **The Reynolds Pamphlet** \- and held it up. She shook it in his face, and began to flip through the pages._

 _"The world has no right to my heart, the world has no place in our bed. They don't get to know what I said!_ _She turned and scooped up several letters from the papers strewn across the floor. She looked down at what she held in her hand, then tossed them into the fire._

 _"I'm burning the memories, burning the letters that might have redeemed you! You forfeit all rights to my heart! You forfeit the place in our bed, you'll sleep in your office instead! With only the memories of when you were mine!"_

 _Alexander leapt forward, grabbing his wife's arm, but not before she had thrown the last of the letters into the fire. She tore her arm from his grasp and backed away toward the door. She stepped into the doorway and looked back at Alexander._

 _"I hope that you... burn..."_

 _She turned and left, closing the door behind her. Alexander turned back to the fireplace just in time to see the last of the letters crumple to ash._

* * *

Eliza sighed, the memory cut deep. There was a commotion downstairs, Eliza sighed and put aside her sowing. She rose and walked downstairs, when she reached the room it had come from she almost felt bad for Alexander; both Peggy and Angelica were attacking him.

"Peggy, Angelica, stop. Leave him alone."

"But-"

"Leave him alone."

"Alexander, get out."

Quickly, he retreated. Eliza turned back to her sisters and gave them a stern look.

"Follow me."

Her sisters exchanged a glance, then followed her up the stairs. Eliza led them into the parlor and then sat them on the couch.

"Stop being so mean to Alexander."

"But-"

"I'm not saying that you should forgive him, I haven't. Maybe I never will, but I don't want you to torture him on my account! That's not my nature, he hurt me, but that doesn't mean I should just hurt him back."

"Eliza, that's sweet, but really? He cheated on you!"

"I know, but... just leave him alone."

"Alright Betsy, I'm it's your life, we'll leave him alone."

The three sisters hugged. Suddenly there was a crash and a scream downstairs.

"That doesn't mean your children won't!"

The sisters ran downstairs and were flabbergasted by what they saw.

"John Church Hamilton, stop biting your father!"

The little four year old looked up at his mother and unlatched himself from his fathers arm, then trotted away to join his siblings in the kitchen.


	4. Announcement

**Okay guys, so I know I said that I was done with this story, but then I had this awesome idea. So now I am doing one extra bonus chapter for you. It is coming soon, so check to see when it comes out!**


	5. One Last Night

Angelica needed someone to talk to. She had been that someone to her sisters during her visit, and she needed a perspective other than Peggy and Eliza's. So here she was, standing outside the house of an old friend. Slowly and a little nervously she stepped up to the door. He himself opened the it, looking as if he had been awake for days.

"Angelica? What- what are you doing here?"

"The Reynolds Pamphlet. My sister."

"Ah."

"I just... I needed someone to talk to. I hope that's alright."

"Of course, anytime. Come in."

He stepped back, allowing her to enter. Gently he guided her to the parlor, closing the door behind him. For several long minutes they sat in silence; he waited quietly, she would speak when she was ready. Finally it was to much and he broke the silence.

"Sorry for the mess, and how I look, I wasn't expecting company..." He ran an hand through his disheveled hair, grimacing slightly.

"I should have sent a note to ask if I could come visit."

"It's fine," he said, smiling tiredly.

"It's just, Alexander was my friend well- more than a friend really..."

That jerked him alert. He stared at her in disbelief, _Hamilton?! Really?! How?!_

"Hamilton?! You liked _Hamilton_? Have you met him? Have you talked to him?"

She laughed, "You two are actually more alike then you think."

"No! I am _NOTHING_ like him! Hamilton?! No way."

"You are both intelligent, respected, eloquent to list a few."

"He is annoying, obnoxious, idiotic, impossible, and infuriating!"

"I'm sure you are none of those things."

"Agreed."

She rolled her eyes, it was good to talk to him again. She smiled at him, dark eyes sparkling with amusement, and he responded in kind. Swiftly, she leaned forward, grabbing a stack of papers from the table in front of her.

"So this is why you were up so late. Writing-"

"Writing shit about Hamilton, yeah."

"Let me help."

He looked up at her, eyes wide and disbelieving. She held up a hand, shutting off the string of questions she knew he was about to ask her.

"I owe it to my sister, Thomas."

"Thanks. It will be good having you help again."

They were both silent for a minute then, lost in the past. Taking walks through the crowded streets of Paris, him writing in his study with her reading over his shoulder, editing his words even as they appeared on the paper, and of course, talking about politics.

Hamilton was easily an intellectual equal, but he had always been more concerned for himself then anyone else. Thomas was different, the polar opposite of her own husband in practically every way. While John was distant and cold- even if he did not intend to be- Thomas made time for her, listening and respecting her and her thoughts.

So there they sat, (relocating to his study) and wrote. They wrote about the Reynolds Pamphlet, and pretty much everything horrible they could think of about Alexander Hamilton, which was a lot. Angelica spent the night there, with him, till the sun rose, and stained the sky with gold.

When she finally woke, they said their goodbyes. She slipped out of the house and walked the short distance back to Eliza's house. Behind her, Thomas Jefferson leaned on his doorframe and watched her retreating back.

 _That woman sure is something..._

He smiled at the thought, his mind wandering back to Paris. Quietly he returned to his study, but he couldn't write, not without Angelica. So he went to bed, and in his dreams he was back in Paris with Angelica, laughing, talking, and writing. He missed her, he had never met another woman who compared to her. Not that he would marry again, his dead wife's last words still echoed in his mind.

 _"Thomas, promise me that you won't marry again: for our daughters sakes."_

He had promised immediately, and she had died. Besides, Angelica was already married. Still, the memories of their time together lingered in both of their minds for a long time after that night.

* * *

 **Sorry this is so short guys, anyway, this is the end of this story. It isn't my better writing but I'm tired and kind of school-stressed...**


End file.
